Did Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton cheat the government in thousands of dollars worth of potential tax returns by donating to her own foundation? A meme that has been circulating throughout social media claims that of the $1,042,000 in charitable contributions, $1 million also went directly to the Clinton Foundation.

Did she really slash a million dollars from her taxes by putting it in her own pocket? Read on and decide for yourself.

According to Snopes, the alleged financial trickery on the part of Clinton did happen. However, it is not the sort of tax fraud the meme claims it to be.

Assuming that the meme was based on Hillary Clinton’s tax filing in 2015, the findings on the document revealed the truth behind the allegations. It turns out that the Democratic nominee did deduct $1,042,000 in charitable contributions from her income.

The amount $42,000 went to Desert Classic Charities with the rest going to the Clinton Foundation. This, however, was made jointly by her and her husband, former president Bill Clinton.

Also, declaring that she donated over $1 million dollars to charity does not mean that the taxes you owe will be reduced by that amount. It only means that her taxable income will be reduced by the amount donated, less taxable income, less taxes.

Hillary Clinton Pocketed $1 Million In Donations?

The Clintons are not the only ones to have used foundations to reduce their taxable income. Many wealthy people also use foundations as a means to pay less in taxes, legally of course.

The controversy now lies with the Clinton Foundation. The charity is now under investigation for allegedly accepting foreign donations in exchange for favors from Hillary’s State Department.

Many believe that the Clintons are using the foundation as a cash cow, skimming a fraction of the donations and putting it in their bank accounts. While there has been no proof of this actually happening, the actual entity in question is not the Clinton Foundation itself.

The entity where Sec. Clinton’s contributions went to is the Clinton Family Foundation. According to Inside Philantropy, the foundation is also “a traditional private foundation that serves as the vehicle for the couple’s personal charitable giving.”

It has no staff or offices to speak of and regularly disburses contributions to different charitable institutions. The foundation’s 2015 tax filing has yet to be made public. This meant that details to the $1 million donation from the Clintons are still unavailable.

Do you believe Hillary Clinton and her husband are lining their pockets with donations from their charitable institutions? Let us know what you think in the comments below.